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Airline Ltd trading as The Holiday Store
& The Independent Holiday Company Neville Wynn's response-Managing
Director Airline Ltd To whom it may concern Re: Mrs Linda Steyn Ref 503193/218768 Two holidays in the name of the above client have been
booked on our, (Airline Ltd's) system. One holiday was booked by The Independent
Holiday Company as a result of a telephone conversation, the other being
booked with The Holiday Store via the Lastminute.com web site. Mrs Steyn
claims that she did not book the holiday with The Independent Holiday
Company as the details kept changing. Mrs Steyn must have gone through
the process of booking as she gave credit card details. She states that
at the last moment she told the reservation clerk to "forget it".
I agree that it does, of course seem very strange for somebody to book
two holidays, one of which she could not possibly take. However, this
does not rule out the possibility that two people were looking for the
holiday independently of each other and that they both booked a holiday,
only realising their error when they spoke later. Mrs Steyn claims that
the holiday booked via the Lastminute web site was the only holiday booked.
The Lastminute.com web site records the time that a booking is made on
their system. The booking was made with Lastminute.com at 09:50 on the
3rd August 2001. I believe that logic dictates that if Mrs Steyn had made
a booking with Lastminute.com she would then not be 99% of the way in
booking a holiday with The Independent Holiday Company after 09:50 on
3rd August 2001. 1 - You maintain that I claimed not to have made a booking with The Independent Holiday Company. If you refer back to the letter I e-mailed you on the 15th August, in particular the section marked with a 1 to be exact, you will clearly see that your comment is not true. 2 - With reference to your wording that I was to have told your reservation clerk to "forget it". Once again, I ask that you go back and read my letter. You will see that it clearly states on numerous occasions, I instructed Mr Chris Pugsley to CANCEL the booking we had been discussing for a holiday to Ibiza for the period 04th to 12th August 2001. 3 - If YOU find it strange that a person would accept and pay for two holidays, one of which could not possibly be taken, and of which WE DO NOT KNOW WHERE MR CHRIS PUGSLEY GOT THE DATES TO MAKE THE BOOKING FOR, FOR THE PERIOD 11TH TO 19TH AUGUST, then you leave me totally dumbfounded. I will swear in a court of law if I have to that I never gave him those dates to book and accept a holiday, let alone permit payment thereof. My attached airline ticket and boarding passes should be sufficient proof of that as they prove that we traveled to London on the 31st July and were due to leave London on the 16th August. Mrs. Gail Steyn would never have done so either, as she and I traveled to and from London together, on the same dates. And should you be wondering, yes, I did go to school and I do have a fairly reasonable knowledge and understanding of the English language, as well as I am able to read a calendar in so far as to know where my responsibilities lie when it comes to taking a return flight home. 3 - You make the allegation that two different people could have booked two different holidays at different times realizing an error later. Perhaps you could enlighten me as to who these two people are that you have referred to. I again bring to your attention, as I did when we spoke on the phone whilst I was in London, and as mentioned in my letter. There were two other people in the room with me whilst I spoke to your Mr Chris Pugsley on the phone. Mr Adrian Dean, the person whose credit card was debited twice and Mrs. Gail Steyn, the person who was traveling with me. Mr Chris Pugsley would have heard me talking to them, firstly to discuss the accommodation and secondly when Mr Adrian Dean read out his credit card details. Mr Chris Pugsley was made aware of the fact that Mr Adrian Dean was looking at the website lastminute.com, during the time of our conversation, as there were photographs of Ibiza that we were viewing. 4 - I do not doubt your comments that a booking was recorded at 09h50 on lastminute.com, as I had instructed Mr Adrian Dean to do so, and I have no doubt in my mind that your telephone records are going to show to you that your reservation clerk returned my calls to my daughter's mobile phone between approximately 09h00 - 10h00 on the 03rd August. As I stated to you, you are going to find that the time at the end of my conversation and the booking on lastminute.com are actually only going to be a few moments apart, this due to the fact that Mr Adrian Dean was viewing the site as I was talking to your Mr Chris Pugsley on the phone. I emphatically state that the booking for the dates 04th to 12th August as being discussed with your Mr Chris Pugsley was cancelled with The Independent Holiday Store prior to a booking being made with The Holiday Store on lastminute.com for the above-mentioned dates. In fact your records will show our conversation/s were lengthy, this due to Mr Chris Pugsley constantly changing the venues and prices. I had started phoning The Holiday Store from 08h00 on the 03rd August and if my memory serves me correctly I spoke to a lady between 08h30 to 09h00 and left a message for someone to come back to me as she was unable to help me with my enquiry. We had viewed the website lastminute.com the previous evening and it is there where I obtained the telephone number for The Independent Holiday Company. We, Gail and I, had made up our minds the previous evening that we were going to go to Ibiza for a week from the 04th August. The Product Manager of The Independent Holiday Company
is Steve Dearman, who I have known for twenty years and who has worked
for me for seven years. Steve is without doubt one of the most honest,
straight forward people I have ever met. I have never known him to tell
one lie, or exaggerate. Steve was not due to start work on the Friday
in question until 10 o'clock, ten minutes after the booking was made with
Lastminute.com. Steve has told me that he was sitting next to, and helping
the reservations clerk make the booking. It therefore seems possible that
the booking with The Independent Holiday Company was made after the booking
with Lastminute.com, which would make little sense. Both the reservations
clerk and Steve assure me that the booking was a definite booking. As
a company we do not hold options and so there is no other reason to hold
off a booking other than if it is regarded as a definite booking. 1 - Is your Product Manager, Mr Steve Dearman in the habit of commencing his work promptly at 10h00 or is there the possibility he arrived and started work early on the day in question? You state that Mr Steve Dearman was sitting next to and "helping" your reservation clerk, indicating to me that Mr Chris Pugsley did not know what he was doing and needed the assistance. This becomes rather apparent in him making a booking for a holiday on dates that were NEVER discussed by myself to him or even mentioned to him and his constant changes in prices. This validates my comments in, and I again refer to the section marked 1 of my previous letter. I again re-iterate that my conversation/s with Mr Chris Pugsley definitely commenced long before 10h00 and the booking made with him definitely cancelled prior to the booking made on lastminute.com Up until recently, as an Account Executive with the largest cash in transit SECURITY COMPANY in Southern Africa for the past ten years, an absolute vital requirement from their personnel would be honesty and integrity. Would you like me to supply references as to my own HONESTY, STRAIGHT FORWARDNESS AND TRUTHFULNESS? Perhaps you would like me to take a lie detector test, which I would not hesitate to undergo, to prove to you that your personnel are incorrect and I am not exaggerating this whole matter. My holiday to the United Kingdom from the 31st July to the 16th August was supposed to be a pleasurable time for myself as a reward to myself after recently stopping work after 10 years. The object of my HOLIDAY was to visit my two daughters in London as well as seeing another country. With the South African currency, the rand at twelve to one sterling pound, the costs incurred for a holiday of this nature are enormous, with a great deal of time and money spent on the planning thereof. You and your company Airline Limited have turned my recent holiday into the worst nightmare I have ever experienced. The holiday that we accepted with your company, The Holiday Store between 04th to 12th August, turned out to be a complete disaster. First, with us having to catch airplanes at ridiculous hours in the middle of the night and delays thereof. Second, the accommodation provided had absolutely no consideration for their guests whatsoever as to the incessant noise made by themselves and their guests throughout the night. The longest uninterrupted sleep that Mrs. Gail Steyn or myself had on any one night was a maximum of one hour. Even a request to be moved to a "quieter" part of the hotel after 3 nights did not eliminate this problem. Third, the hotel ran out of hot water for bathing. Fourth, your Sun FX representatives conned us into paying exorbitant prices on excursions that were extremely overrated in their presentation on our first morning. This was not our feeling alone, but the general consensus of everyone we spoke to on your "good holiday deal". Perhaps a questionnaire answered at the end of one of your holiday packages would verify this, just incase you think I am exaggerating. Fifth, the hotel and your Sun FX Rep failed to pass on important messages to us. One such message with regard Mr Adrian Dean and my daughter trying to contact us re the double debit of Mr Adrian Dean's credit card. I need not go any further into the second disaster that awaited our return from Ibiza with the fraudulent booking made by your other company The Independent Holiday Company for a holiday in a period that could NEVER have been accepted by us, for the period 11th to 19th August. Needless to say, our last few days in London were totally miserable with us having to spend a great deal of time and money on trying to resolve this matter. Endless calls were made to your various departments within your companies and to various members of your staff. When it became apparent that we were not going to receive any co-operation from Airline Limited and its subsidiary companies, then a great deal of time and money was spent on contacting Mr Adrian Deans bank manager on his behalf as he had gone to the USA on business, so as to notify his credit card company. Advice was also sought from a few organizations such as Consumer Help Lines, ABTA, Advice Bureaus and the Trading Standards. I got a loan from one of my daughters, which is repayable back with interest, so as to refund Mr Adrian Dean on the fraudulent debit from his credit card. Any understanding person would agree that it would have been very unfair to expect him to be out of pocket, especially since he so kindly offered us the use of his credit card to secure the holiday. You state that the Airline Limited is a profitable company and this I wholeheartedly believe to be the case, especially after my experience with your company. I on the other hand cannot afford to have this unnecessary debt. You go on to offer what you call compensation for the "trouble" I have put through should your itemized telephone bill prove me to be correct. Mr Wynn, you have no idea what amount of "trouble" and embarrassment you have put me through. Mr Wynn, as the director of Airline Limited, I put the following questions to you to have answered. These I would like to receive answers on by close of business on Friday the 31st August. Failure to do so will result in my assuming that you are not interested in settling this matter. I think that due to the amount of time that has lapsed to date, my request is one of a fair and reasonable nature. I am going to print the confirmation report once it has been e-mailed. 1 - Where and from whom did Mr Chris Pugsley
get the dates 11th to 19th August to book a holiday to Ibiza under my
name? As a company we pride ourselves on our honesty and integrity. We are also profitable and have no wish or need to defraud anybody of anything. In conversation with Mrs Steyn I suggested that if she could provide us with a phone bill from her mobile phone showing that the call to The Independent Holiday Company took place and was concluded prior to the booking with Lastminute.com then we would refund the credit card immediately and also provide her with an additional £50.00 by way of compensation for the trouble she has been put to. Mrs Steyn said that the phone call in question was made by The Independent Holiday Company to her phone, as they had agreed to call her back. We have therefore ordered an itemised phone bill for The Independent Holiday Company to establish what time this call took place. Again if this verifies Mrs Steyns version of events, the amount paid to The Independent Holiday Company will be refunded in full and we will also credit an additional £50.00 to compensate Mrs Steyn for the trouble she has been put to. Yours faithfully
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